Condensed Consolidating Financial Information (Condensed Consolidating Statements of Earnings and Comprehensive Earnings) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2018
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	$ 6,856	$ 6,837	$ 19,103	$ 19,250
Cost of sales	1,915	2,037	5,367	5,509
Excise taxes on products	1,444	1,545	4,109	4,409
Gross profit	3,497	3,255	9,627	9,332
Marketing, administration and research costs	552	700	1,654	1,959
Asset impairment and exit costs	1	(2)	74	2
Operating income (expense)	2,944	2,557	7,899	7,371
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	293	159	989	503
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	(24)	(21)	(40)	(37)
Earnings from equity investments	(333)	(189)	(866)	(759)
Impairment of JUUL equity securities	4,500	0	4,500	0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	636		1,327
Loss on ABI/SABMiller business combination	0	0	0	33
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	(2,128)	2,608	1,989	7,631
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	474	664	1,473	1,915
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0	0	0
Net earnings (losses)	(2,602)	1,944	516	5,716
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)	0	(3)
Net earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	(2,600)	1,943	516	5,713
Net earnings (losses)	(2,602)	1,944	516	5,716
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	244	(382)	145	(137)
Comprehensive earnings (losses)	(2,358)	1,562	661	5,579
Comprehensive (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)	0	(3)
Comprehensive earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	(2,356)	1,561	661	5,576
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | Altria Group, Inc. [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	0	0	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0	0	0
Excise taxes on products	0	0	0	0
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Marketing, administration and research costs	41	45	125	122
Asset impairment and exit costs	0	0	1	0
Operating income (expense)	(41)	(45)	(126)	(122)
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	258	127	892	378
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	0	1	1	3
Earnings from equity investments	(252)	(189)	(640)	(759)
Impairment of JUUL equity securities	0		0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	0		0
Loss on ABI/SABMiller business combination				33
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	(47)	16	(379)	223
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(93)	21	(180)	67
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	(2,646)	1,948	715	5,557
Net earnings (losses)	(2,600)	1,943	516	5,713
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0
Net earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	(2,600)	1,943	516	5,713
Net earnings (losses)	(2,600)	1,943	516	5,713
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	244	(382)	145	(137)
Comprehensive earnings (losses)	(2,356)	1,561	661	5,576
Comprehensive (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0
Comprehensive earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	(2,356)	1,561	661	5,576
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | PM USA [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	5,804	5,811	16,140	16,339
Cost of sales	1,644	1,736	4,594	4,666
Excise taxes on products	1,391	1,491	3,949	4,245
Gross profit	2,769	2,584	7,597	7,428
Marketing, administration and research costs	392	491	1,181	1,400
Asset impairment and exit costs	0	0	38	0
Operating income (expense)	2,377	2,093	6,378	6,028
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	(20)	(20)	(64)	(37)
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	(19)	(18)	(32)	(33)
Earnings from equity investments	0	0	0	0
Impairment of JUUL equity securities	0		0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	0		0
Loss on ABI/SABMiller business combination				0
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	2,416	2,131	6,474	6,098
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	590	539	1,610	1,537
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	117	119	326	310
Net earnings (losses)	1,943	1,711	5,190	4,871
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0
Net earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	1,943	1,711	5,190	4,871
Net earnings (losses)	1,943	1,711	5,190	4,871
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	1	2	10	10
Comprehensive earnings (losses)	1,944	1,713	5,200	4,881
Comprehensive (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0
Comprehensive earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	1,944	1,713	5,200	4,881
Reportable Legal Entities [Member] | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	1,062	1,035	2,991	2,938
Cost of sales	281	310	801	870
Excise taxes on products	53	54	160	164
Gross profit	728	671	2,030	1,904
Marketing, administration and research costs	119	164	348	437
Asset impairment and exit costs	1	(2)	35	2
Operating income (expense)	608	509	1,647	1,465
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	55	52	161	162
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	(5)	(4)	(9)	(7)
Earnings from equity investments	(81)	0	(226)	0
Impairment of JUUL equity securities	4,500		4,500
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	636		1,327
Loss on ABI/SABMiller business combination				0
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	(4,497)	461	(4,106)	1,310
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	(23)	104	43	311
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0	0	0
Net earnings (losses)	(4,474)	357	(4,149)	999
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)	0	(3)
Net earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	(4,472)	356	(4,149)	996
Net earnings (losses)	(4,474)	357	(4,149)	999
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	20	36	78	109
Comprehensive earnings (losses)	(4,454)	393	(4,071)	1,108
Comprehensive (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	2	(1)	0	(3)
Comprehensive earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	(4,452)	392	(4,071)	1,105
Total Consolidating Adjustments [Member]
Condensed Income Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Net revenues	(10)	(9)	(28)	(27)
Cost of sales	(10)	(9)	(28)	(27)
Excise taxes on products	0	0	0	0
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Marketing, administration and research costs	0	0	0	0
Asset impairment and exit costs	0	0	0	0
Operating income (expense)	0	0	0	0
Interest and other debt expense (income), net	0	0	0	0
Net periodic benefit (income) cost, excluding service cost	0	0	0	0
Earnings from equity investments	0	0	0	0
Impairment of JUUL equity securities	0		0
Loss on Cronos-related financial instruments	0		0
Loss on ABI/SABMiller business combination				0
Earnings (losses) before income taxes and equity earnings of subsidiaries	0	0	0	0
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	0	0	0	0
Equity earnings of subsidiaries	2,529	(2,067)	(1,041)	(5,867)
Net earnings (losses)	2,529	(2,067)	(1,041)	(5,867)
Net (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0
Net earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	2,529	(2,067)	(1,041)	(5,867)
Net earnings (losses)	2,529	(2,067)	(1,041)	(5,867)
Other comprehensive earnings (losses), net of deferred income taxes	(21)	(38)	(88)	(119)
Comprehensive earnings (losses)	2,508	(2,105)	(1,129)	(5,986)
Comprehensive (earnings) losses attributable to noncontrolling interests	0	0	0	0
Comprehensive earnings (losses) attributable to Altria	$ 2,508	$ (2,105)	$ (1,129)	$ (5,986)